This application claims priority to Italian Application Serial No. M099A000047 filed Mar. 19, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a closure device for footwear and luggage items such as bags, suitcases and the like and for items of clothing such as, for example, trousers, jackets and clothes.
It is known to use buttons each comprising a solid rounded body, which protrudes from a surface made of fabric, leather or other materials for bags, cloths and shoes, and constitutes an element for temporarily joining the surface to another similar one provided with a buttonhole in which the button is inserted.
The two parts can also be joined by mutual engagement of two parts which are respectively fixed to the two surfaces to be joined and which are known, as a whole, as press-stud.
As an alternative to these closure devices, conventional zip fasteners are constituted by a double row of teeth made of metal or plastic which alternately interlock thanks to the force produced by actuating a slider.
These fasteners consist of a succession of a plurality of press-studs whose coupling, instead of being elastic and by pressure, is achieved thanks to the shape of the parts that mutually engage.
These closure systems are not devoid of drawbacks, including the fact that the press-studs do not allow rapid and perfectly hermetic closure, since they are mutually spaced and require individual closure operations, and zip fasteners tend to wear out and require lateral reinforcements to prevent the rows of teeth from separating from the respective surfaces due to the force applied by the slider.
Moreover, since the teeth must interlock with each other by forcing, they are subjected to continuous stress, break easily and in this case require complete replacement of the fastener.
The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the above-noted drawbacks of conventional types of zip fastener and buttons, providing a closure device for clothes, shoes, bags and the like which allows to achieve hermetic, rapid and effective closure, has an aesthetically valid appearance, does not require additional lateral reinforcements and is durable.
Within the scope of this technical aim, an object of the present invention is to achieve the above aim with a structure which is simple, relatively easy to provide in practice, safe in use, effective in operation and relatively low in cost.
This aim and this object are both achieved by the present closure device for clothing, footwear and luggage items and the like, which is adapted to act on flattened and adjacent parts, characterized in that it comprises two elongated and parallel elements having, at their outer lateral edges, a region for fixing to the respective parts to be joined and have, along the mutually facing inward lateral edges, a plurality of shaped portions for coupling to a movable element which is substantially as long as these elongated elements, has a plurality of complementarily shaped portions along its complementary edges, is provided with grip means in an upward region and can slide between said elongated elements in order to close the parts.